


Trade

by encore



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drowning, F/F, Mermaids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-02-21
Packaged: 2018-03-14 09:22:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3405464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/encore/pseuds/encore
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jade finds a mermaid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trade

**Author's Note:**

> 1) boobs? mermaids don't need boobs. 2) forgot where i read about mermaids learning speech through mouth contact but i loved it so that's in here

You live on an island by yourself, if you don’t count your grandfather and your dog. Your grandfather is by all accounts dead, no matter how well preserved his traditionally stuffed body is and no matter how much you adopt his voice as your inner and outer parental monologue, and your friends say dogs don’t count, so. You’re alone, and that’s okay. You’re used to it, and though you wish you weren’t sometimes (a lot of times), you think you probably would not know what to do if you were surrounded by other people all the time. It sounds claustrophobic, and really you like being able to live by your own schedule and your own rules! (And Bec’s rules, but you see him less and less since your thirteenth birthday, and get closer and closer to things he used to keep you from.)

You’re well versed about the various creatures that inhabit your island and even some that live in the waters around you, but you never expected to find a mermaid swimming anywhere near your home.

You weren’t really surprised about the mermaid existing – your grandpa used to tell you stories of all sorts of creatures he had encountered in his lifetime, most of which your friends denied of being possible, but you knew he wasn’t lying, so mermaids weren’t that much of a stretch to comprehend. Especially comparing it to some of the more alien-like creatures that live in the forest on your island. You just always figured they would stay somewhere deeper and farther from land.

You had been near some of the large lily pads, clothes shucked off and tossed carelessly near the shore with most of your other items, only your glasses (specially made; installed with some computer capabilities and water-proofed, of course, you were sensible after all) remaining on. You had mostly just wanted to swim around in the cool water for fun, but also you wanted to see how close you could swim to the temple before Bec zapped you back to your clothes.

You got a few meters away from it before he zapped you back to the shore, not bothering to stick around longer than to snort at you in what you were sure was his doggy equivalent of admonishing you and rolling his eyes. If he had had eyes too, that is.

Huffing, you pulled your wet hair out of your face and began debating between continuing a mission-free swim or heading back to your room, when something burst up through the water only a few feet away from you.

You made a startled noise and moved back as quickly as you could without turning away or standing. One hand reached out for the shotgun you had discarded with your clothes earlier and gripped the weapon tight.

It watched you move in a predatory way. Kind of like it’s sizing you up. Then it smiled wide.

Its mouth might as well be full of knives. The teeth were razor sharp and look like they could give you a nasty cut if you put even the slightest pressure on them. Your grip on your gun tightened.

It stayed where it is, thankfully, eyes wide and smile wider. It looked ecstatic, you thought, but it was a whole other species, so you weren’t really sure if that facial expression meant the same thing. It certainly seemed content to just stare at you with its creepily wide eyes, either way.

Its skin was a pale, ashy hue, as if it had rarely if ever been touched by the sun. It reminded you of the smooth rocks you would scavenge to skip on the water sometimes. Its hair was long and dark and what was above the water clung to its skin. When it blinked, the film over its eyes slid together like a fishes and that really, really unnerved you.

It opened its mouth wider and a series of trills fill the air that immediately made you wince and your finger squeezed the trigger.

The shot rang out just as loud as the creatures abruptly dropped off trills and you watched as it ducked under water, impossibly fast. The bullet whizzed through the air where it had been seconds earlier and hit the water behind it instead.

You kept your gun trained on the water as you slowly stand up. The creature didn’t seem to be resurfacing, but you couldn’t be sure. Getting closer than you were could be dangerous, though; it could grab your gun or your leg and pull you under and you doubted you would last too long underwater with that.

You worries mattered little, though, as in the next second a mass shot from the water and onto the land, crashing into you and knocking you over with its weight. “Oof-”

You gun was flung easily to the side by cold, gray hands. The creature grins toothily – really, really toothily, like shark teeth – down at you as your eyes grow wide and then it lunges to-

…kiss you?

You were more confused and frightened than before at the sudden cold mouth on yours and when it pulled away to chirp, “Please don’t shoot at me again!” you started to wonder if maybe you were actually dreaming this whole time instead.

“Uh,” You said, smartly, in reply.

“If you try to shoot me again, I’ll have to krill you, but you sea-m interesting, so I don’t want to have to do that yet, ocray?”

It put extra emphasis on what you quickly realized were freaking nautical puns and the absurdity of it all almost distracted you from the meaning of the words themselves. The cold press of its body to your own felt decidedly slimy and incredibly scaly past a certain point and you were really regretting not alchemizing a swimsuit or something. Modesty never came easy to you, so it never passed your mind until now.

“What?”

It frowned. “Are you stupid or something? I spoke in your language for you and everything!” It paused. “Though you knew more than one, maybe you speak the otters betta…”

“I understood you just fine, just – get off of me!”

“How do I know you won’t try to krill me again if I do?”

Your arms still effectively trapped beneath the mermaid making itself comfortable on your chest, you grit your teeth and tried to remain as calm as possible. “You just said you’d kill me.”

“Not if you don’t try to krill me first!”

“You said ‘yet’!”

“Ugh!” It threw its hands up. “Humans are insufferabubble! I won’t krill you at all, if you don’t try to krill me. Betta?”

“Yes! Now get off.”

The mermaid rolled to the side, watching you happily. The clawed hand poised carefully near your arm left no illusion that it would not strike immediately if you made a wrong move.

Sitting up slowly, you tried to make yourself appear as nonthreatening as possible.

“Humans have names, right? Meenah says you do, but Eridan said you were too feral to have real names! So, do you? If you don’t,” Its eyes lit up. “If you don’t, can I name you?”

“I…” You furrowed your brows and your fingers twitched in the direction of clothes. “I have a name! Duh! Can I put my clothes on first, before your fishy and speciest interrogation?”

It held up a hand. “Name first! Or I’ll go ahead and name you myshelf. I’m Feferi.”

“Jade! Now let me put on clothes.”

They nodded and you immediately scrambled for your clothes, pulling your skirt on hastily. Though you wanted to turn away, you didn’t let yourself turn your back on the creature sitting contentedly a few feet away, murmuring your name over and over to itself.

 **  
** “So!” they chirped, reaching out to pull themselves unsubtly in between you and your thrown gun. “Tell me about humans.”


End file.
